


Didn't Hurt a Bit

by GeckoGirl89



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Angst, Episode: s03e14 Couplet, Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts, F/M, POV Angel (BtVS), Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-28 04:43:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10823991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeckoGirl89/pseuds/GeckoGirl89
Summary: The expression "broken heart" doesn't quite cover what Angel is feeling right now. Because Angel's heart honestly feels pulverized right now. No patch job is going to cure that.





	Didn't Hurt a Bit

**Author's Note:**

> Written in March for this prompt on comment-fic (http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/612947.html?view=102666579#t102666579): any Whedonverse. any. a broken heart.

  
Cordelia turns back towards Angel, and her hand skims over his chest where the tree monster had impaled him with its leathery tentacle. She looks at him with concern, and to Angel's sorrow, nothing else.  
  
"You sure you don't need some patching up yourself?"  
  
It's ironic how she's only referring to the physical wound he has, when that is minor compared to his emotional injuries.  
  
He wishes that Lorne had been wrong yesterday evening and that he didn't have a heart. He wishes that he had told the truth to that tree demon, that nobody was using his heart anyway.  
  
The expression "broken heart" doesn't quite cover what Angel is feeling right now. Because Angel's heart honestly feels pulverized right now. No patch job is going to cure that.  
  
Angel has been spiraling downward in misery ever since the goddamn Groosalugg showed up. Truthfully, Angel enjoyed punching Groo in the face. The annoying idiot just waltzed in out of the blue and usurped his place on the team, his favorite broadsword, his clothes, and his woman.  
  
Well, that's not entirely fair. Cordelia was never really "his." For a few moments, he thought she could be, but the Groosalugg just reminded him of the inescapable truth. Angel never had anything to offer Cordelia. Contrary to Lorne's assumptions, it was never just because of Angel's curse. All day long, Angel has been forced to hear about how much Cordelia wants to have sex with the Groosalugg and has had to see them acting like a happy couple.  
  
Angel feels like an oblivious moron. He should have seen this coming since nearly a year ago when Cordy wanted him to stop fighting the Groosalugg in Pylea because she "loved" him. It was clearly foreshadowing for last night. Angel had believed she was talking about him at first, felt thrilled (though at the time he didn't really understand why), and felt strangely disappointed when she hadn't been talking about him at all. The only difference last night was that he was no longer in denial about his feelings for Cordelia (despite all of his attempts to remain in that safer state), so the heartbreak was more severe this time.  
  
Angel copes with the hopeless situation the best way he knows how. He tells Groo the truth when he believes Cordy doesn't want to be with him because Angel doesn't see any point in letting Groo think that his "princess's heart isn't free." He goes with Groo to pick up Cordelia's potion at Cordelia's request because he's always been a sucker for her sad eyes. (Angel would readily give Cordy the world if he could, and it seems like Groo _is_ the world to her.) He lets Cordy think that Groo was the noble, brave hero who saved everyone because the truth wouldn't change a damn thing anyway. And he just gave her the money that he had been squirreling away for a ski condo in Aspen to go on vacation with her boyfriend because he doesn't care about a ski condo if she won't be with him and Connor.  
  
Angel isn't remotely okay, but it's not something Cordelia should concern herself with. His unrequited love isn't her problem. She said she was tired of being lonely, but she no longer has to be with her potion and her Groosalugg. Angel is tired of being lonely too, even though he should be used to it by now, but it's his eternal burden to deal with.  
  
Angel gives her one last gift for the day, a lie that will encourage her to go enjoy her trip.  
  
"No, I...I'm good. Didn't hurt a bit."  
  
Cordy leaves the hotel with her arm wrapped around the Groosalugg, taking Angel's heart with her. He only allows the full grief he feels to show on his face once the door has closed behind her.


End file.
